Fiction Authors - Contemporary

	Hubert Selby Jr. The Room Easily the most bitter, angry, and disturbing book I've read - brilliant! Song of the Silent Snow , The Demon, and Last Exit to Brooklyn ...all good stuff, but not your average "happy reads".
	REYoung Unbabbling Wow!.....Surrealistic angry (yet entirely comprehensible) rantings from an author that seems to have come from nowhere. The third story, in this collection of three novellas, reminds me a lot of Absurdist Literature. Don't miss this one !
	Gilbert Sorrentino Blue Pastoral - Some of the most densely packed sarcasm I've ever encountered. In Red the Fiend, a child who has been viciously abused by his "grandma" learns to fight back, in a novel that I found quite funny. Aberration of Starlight, Steelwork...all good stuff
	J. G. Ballard - fiction from the 1970s His stuff from the seventies seems to have the underlying theme of repressed emotions in contemporary society surfacing in some interesting ways. Crash, Concrete Island, High Rise, Running Wild, Cocaine Nights . The last of this list was actually published in 1998, but seems to me to be return to his style of the 70's.
	John Fante His novels describe the difficult gritty life of Arturo, an aspiring writer in 1940's Los Angeles. The simple clear writing manages to be funny while describing the depths to witch Arturo will descend. A lot of people compare him to Bukowski, and the two writers were indeed friends, but Fante's characters aren't bohemians or beats- they think they are normal. In fact they strive to be normal. Maybe that is what makes these books such good fun. Wait Until Spring Bandini, Road To Los Angeles.
	Paul Auster Moon Palace, the Music of Chance, Mr. Vertigo, In The Country of Last Things, City of Glass / Ghosts / Locked Room (New York Trilogy)
	Simon Black In Me and Kev, an abused child becomes an alienated little weirdo with an imaginary friend. The Book Of Frank tells the story of an average guy who simply gives up on everything, and consequently is hailed as a great performance artist in the East Village.
	Joyce Carol Oates A fairly popular author that you can depend on to write well-written interesting stories using a wide variety of characters. Zombie, First Love, Blackwater, We Were the Mulvaneys, What I Lived For, Because It Is Bitter and Because It Is My Heart, Them, Man Crazy

	Knut Hamsun (Knut Pedersen) 1852-1952 A definite inspiration to John Fante, Hamsun was a pioneer of the technique of "inner monologue" which later authors such as James Joyce also used. His novels depict the often humorous mental states of gifted outsiders, who are often travelers, and tend not to get along too well with the ladies...or anyone else. They just don't "fit in", and the depths of psychological insight Hamsun had into these oddball characters was quite shocking. After 1900 his writing changed, and became more concerned with the ideal of a life lived close to nature. I prefer his earlier works: Hunger, Mysteries, Pan, and Victoria. All translated from the Norwegian
	Oliver W. Goldsmith 1730?-1774 Vicar of Wakefield All kinds of terrible things happen to the good Vicar and his sweet family, yet he remains strong. I'm not sure why this book is so much fun to read. It could be the could be the olde-tyme language (his teen aged daughter is almost "undone" by a brigand), or it could be that it is surprisingly readable for a book so old. Check out the online full text.
	Theodore Dreiser 1871-1945 Dreiser is a master at creating sweet, naive, goodhearted female characters who you just know are going to suffer, suffer, suffer, in his novels. The Genius, Jenny Gerhardt, The Financier, Sister Carrie-full text, An American Tragedy
	Fydor Dostoevsky 1821-1881 It is unfortunate that this author has such a reputation for being difficult to read, the Russian names the characters have may be a little strange, but aside from that he is quite readable. Notes From the Underground is probably my favorite book of his. It is a good explanation of the angry thoughts of a civil servant who spends weeks planning to bump into someone in the street. Can you relate to that ? Crime and Punishment, The Brothers Karamazov, The Gambler
	William Sommerset Maugham 1874-1965 All easy reading olde-tyme stories. Of Human Bondage, The Magician, The Razor's Edge, The Moon and Sixpence
	Joris Karl Huysmans 1848-1907 A wonderfully bitter misanthropic 18th century dandy describes his life and obsessions. He can't even tolerate the company of another human being long enough for his maid to bring him his dinner. He makes a musical organ that dispenses drops flavors of liqueurs that he feels correspond to musical notes. Against the Grain (full text) also sometimes translated as Against Nature
	Comte de Lautreamont (Isidore Ducasse) 1846-1870 Maldoror is a wonderful bizarre surrealistic rant, and even more amazing considering that i t was written in the early 1800's. Makes one wonder what kind of person Lautreamont was, However little is known about his short life. This is not surprising considering Maldoror was never published during Lautreamont's lifetime, and only exists because a manuscript was left lying around a closed printer. Maldoror
	Barbra Pym 1913-1980 In a strange way it is fun to read about her 1940's over educated spinster women, who always seem to have an amorous eye on the local pastor. Excellent Women, No Fond Return of Love

accesses since 11/21/97, updated 8/20/99